Portsmouth vs York Preview

By Jim BonnerLast updated : 23 November 2015

Pompey take on struggling York City at Fratton Park under the floodlights tomorrow night in search of their first win in six league games.

Team News

Paul Cook has no new injury worries ahead of tomorrow's match with Marc McNulty declared fit to play despite coming off at Carlisle on Saturday after taking a knock to the head.

Michael Coulson is also doubtful for tomorrow's game after he limped off during York's defeat at Leyton Orient during the weekend but manager Jackie McNamara is likely to make changes due to his team's poor form anyway.

The Match

Never will there be a better opportunity for Pompey to stop the rot than tomorrow with York coming to Fratton Park on the back of six straight defeats.

The Minstermen currently lie 22nd in League Two and although they are capable of scoring goals, they concede far more and they aren't the type of team that are able to sit back and soak pressure.

If I were Paul Cook I would stick to the same formation that was used at Carlisle where, in all honesty, Pompey should have won the game and would have if their luck was in. The visitors are supposedly weak down the flanks so Kyle Bennett and Gareth Evans could potentially run riot if they're on their game.

Ben Tollitt also made an impression when he came on by bagging an assist for the equaliser so he may be a surprise starter tomorrow although you would expect Caolan Lavery to retain his place up top.

If Pompey cannot beat a seriously out-of-form York side despite their blip then serious questions about the way Pompey's season is going might need to be asked.

The only niggling doubts going into this game is that York's new manager is yet to register a win in charge whilst Jonathan Greening has come out of retirement to play for the Minstermen and he only ever seemed to score his career goals against Pompey.

However, Paul Cook's team haven't been playing that badly and they should be backed to return to winning ways so long as they take their chances and iron out the mistakes at the back.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups

Pompey

GK: Brian MURPHY

RB: Ben DAVIES

CB: Christian BURGESS

CB: Adam WEBSTER

LB: Enda STEVENS

DM: Michael DOYLE

DM: Danny HOLLANDS

RM: Kyle BENNETT

AM: Adam McGURK

LM: Ben TOLLITT

CF: Caolan LAVERY

York

GK: Scott FLINDERS

RB: Marvin McCOY

CB: John McCOMBE

CB: George SWAN

LB: Femi ILESANMI

CM: Jonathan GREENING

CM: James BERRETT

CM: Ben GODFREY

RWF: Michael COULSON

LWF: Bryn MORRIS

CF: Vadaine OLIVER

Last Time: Portsmouth 1 York City 1 (League Two - 02/05/2015)

This end-of-season match wasn't really one to remember as Matt Tubbs thought he scored the winner after he fired past Bobby Olejnik after 82 minutes but more poor defending late in the game saw Brad Halliday equalise just three minutes after to confirm Pompey's worst ever finish of 16th in the fourth tier of English football.

My Prediction

York will probably score as they will come out fighting but their defending is so poor that Pompey should be able to get back to winning ways and score a few goals too.